A top Trump administration official said Thursday the number of family separations at the border has fallen since last summer’s zero tolerance policy, and they are done only for compelling reasons.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said fewer than 1,000 children have been separated from families out of 450,000 family groups that have crossed the border since October. He said they are separated because of health and safety concerns, among other reasons.
“The vast majority” of families are kept together, he said.
That tally does not include children who come with older siblings, or aunts and uncles and grandparents and are separated under long-standing policy meant to guard against human trafficking. McAleenan said Congress would need to amend laws to allow border officers more discretion to keep those groups together.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have encountered more than 800,000 migrants crossing the border from Mexico. Over 450,000 were families.“Combined, that means over 300,000 children have entered our custody since Oct. 1,” he said.House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, said McAleenan was an architect of the family separations. McAleenan wrongly called reports of filthy, overcrowded border facilities “unsubstantiated,” Cummings said.“The administration wants to blame Democrats for this crisis, but it is the Trump administration’s own policies that are causing these problems,” Cummings said.WATCH: Democrats continue to push for hearings on border as Pence blasts comparisons to concentration camps
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“We do not have a dehumanizing culture,” McAleenan responded.Lawmakers didn’t question McAleenan on the new asylum rules. But the new policy is by far the biggest change to how the U.S. handles immigrants. Under the new rules, anyone who comes to the U.S.-Mexico border through another country would not be eligible for asylum. They could affect tens of thousands of people who cross the border each month. There are thousands more on waiting lists at ports of entry who will now likely be denied asylum.The new rules come into play during an initial asylum screening that happens after a migrant is first encountered by Border Patrol, so they won’t make an immediate dent in overcrowding at border facilities. The rules also must survive a legal challenge.WATCH: DHS report says U.S. migrant detention facilities are “ticking time bomb”
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